


tongue-tied, screaming on the inside

by lilsoftgay



Series: writers month 2020 <3 [2]
Category: Dynasty (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Implied / Referenced Cheating, background falliam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25676026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilsoftgay/pseuds/lilsoftgay
Summary: “If we’re going to be stuck in this bubble for another few days...”“Yeah?”“We may as well make the most of it.”Kirby raised an eyebrow. “Liam. And, you know, we might be contagious.”---writer's month 2020 - day 2 : quarantine
Relationships: Kirby Anders/Fallon Carrington
Series: writers month 2020 <3 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861795
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	tongue-tied, screaming on the inside

**Author's Note:**

> tw : implied / referenced cheating
> 
> i wrote this in 3 hours and didnt proofread or edit bc i already knew id never post it if i did. kinda want to come back to make this an actual fic after writers month is done
> 
> i didn't feel like writing ab covid today so i went w a different quarantine 
> 
> title is from is it just me by emily burns ♡

“It’s entirely your fucking fault we’re in here.”

“I think you’ve made that pretty clear by now, Fallon.” Kirby snapped back, exasperated. 

“It’s your fault I’m missing my date tonight.” 

Instead of replying, Kirby turned around on her hospital bed to face the wall, away from the source of her current frustration. 

“We were going to go to Bacchanalia for their seasonal tasting m-”

Kirby grabbed the scratchy hospital grade pillow from beneath her head and covered her ears with it, trying to drown the other woman’s rambling out. She chewed her bottom lip, retracing the steps she’d taken and decisions she’d made that had led to her and Fallon having to be side by side in the most uncomfortable possible beds at the CDC’s quarantine station.. 

\---

_ Slamming herself down onto her work stool, Kirby glared at the experiment on her desk, the last thing she wanted to be dealing with while hungover.  _

_ If she could, she’d be nursing this hangover on a beach somewhere. One of those little huts just above the water where a butler brings you food whenever you want and alcohol whenever you ask and practically all you do is move from bed to ocean to bed. A week, maybe a month, of paradise and of forgetting everything, letting the sun burn her skin over willing it to get rid of the invisible fingerprints Fallon had left behind.  _

_ Instead, the young Chief Scientific Officer was staring at what was supposed to become the next great product from Faces By Fallon.  _

_ Downing the remaining venti coffee she’d bought on her way in, Kirby rubbed harshly at her temple, willing the headache to go away.  _

\---

“It’s kind of your fault too.” Kirby whispers into her pillow. 

\---

Fallon groaned as she heard her phone start playing a song again from outside their isolation bubble. Liam’s ringtone, probably needing yet another reminder of where they were eating tonight or asking what tie to wear or whether or not she thought the restaurant would have fries. 

Or he was reaching out as her Chief Marketing Officer because the press had gotten wind of the hazmat situation back at the research lab. 

Fallon picked the pillow up off her bed, slammed it around her ears to drown out the ringtone she hated, and layed down facing towards the wall with her back to Kirby. 

She counted backwards from 100 in 3’s over and over in her head, willing her heartbeat to slow down. Forcing her brain to stay on task. 

It was hard for her to focus, lately. 

\---

_ Fallon stormed into the scientific advancement lab, stiletto heels clicking away at the marble floor, a lit cigarette loosely in her hand.  _

_ (A bad habit she’d picked up after she and Kirby had broken up. Kirby, her CSO, who she had to go talk to about the new procedure she was working on. Kirby, who Fallon would rather die than see right now.) _

_ Inspired by her mother’s endless plastic surgery as she grew up, Fallon had dived into plastic surgery when her father had promised to pay for med school if she ditched her dreams of becoming an engineer. After fainting in her first surgical observation, she pivoted to researching non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and it didn’t take long until Faces by Fallon was a registered trademarked company with patents pending.  _

_ And now it was burning and engulfed in a shimmery green smoke that looked almost beautiful in an ethereal end-of-the-world way.  _

_ Kirby’s shrill scream snapped her out of her trance.  _

_ “Run, Fallon for fuck’s sake, FALLON RUN. DO YOU WANT TO BURN?”  _

_ Her unsmoked cigarette fell as she bolted into action, its small inconsequential flame joining the blaze around it.  _

\---

They ate breakfast the next morning in silence, neither woman mentioning that they could see the telltale red-rimmed eyes of a tear filled sleepless night on the other. 

\---

It took until 5pm for them to break their self imposed vow of silence. Kirby was first, getting up off the bed to grab one of the board games the CDC operative had left on the table for them in case they got bored and shaking the box at Fallon until the woman begrudgingly followed her to the table. 

It’s not like they had anything else to do. 

\---

_ Three months into Faces by Fallon being a real thing, and three dates in with the red-haired model-by-day-PhD-student-by-night that she was falling head over heels for, Fallon decided to let her two worlds collide.  _

_ “I’m going to hire you. As my CSO.” _

_ “You-what?” _

_ Fallon nodded, going against everything she believed in. “You’re the only one who really Gets what I’m trying to do. And you hate your PhD subject, and you’re almost done with it anyway. Defend your thesis and then come work for me.”  _

_ Kirby tilted her head, pretending to think about it. “Hmm... does the job offer come with perks?” _

_ “Sleeping with the boss isn’t enough of a perk for you, now?” Fallon smirked, taking a sip of her champagne as she watched Kirby actually think it through.  _

_ “Okay, deal. But I get my own office. And i want an intern.” _

_ Fallon shook her head, waving her arm for the bartender to order another bottle of champagne.  _

\---

“I’m happy. WIth Liam. You know? He... he makes me happy. I’m happy. We’re happy. Together, I mean, happy together. He’s kind, he makes me happy, he believes in my dream. I’m happy.” 

“Are you?” 

Fallon turned away from Kirby to wipe a tear, shrugging her shoulders lightly. “Why are you asking me that?” 

Kirby shrugged back, looking up and pretending to be interested in the tile pattern on the ceiling. “Usually people who are happy don’t feel the need to state that they are happy seven times in one breath.” 

Neither woman acknowledged how Fallon’s breaths sped up, or how her shoulders started shaking, or how she was now furiously wiping away at her cheeks as the tears came fast. 

Kirby continued her examination of the ceiling tiles. 

_ (God that’s an ugly pattern. Maybe they’ll let Fallon redecorate. She always had nice taste.) _

Kirby’s not sure how long she stares at the tiles for, but the moment that Fallon starts sobbing, her head snaps towards her. 

“Hey, hey, Fallon, hey. I didn’t mean to upset you.” 

Fallon shook her hands out, as her breathing increased. 

“Fallon.”

Kirby sat up in bed, reaching out towards her. 

“Fallon, look at me.”

It wasn’t quite  _ at _ Kirby, but Fallon did lift her head up somewhat, so Kirby took it as a win. 

“Okay. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay. Can I hold your hand?” 

An almost imperceptible nod, and Kirby grabbed both of Fallon’s hands in hers. 

“You’re okay. I’m going to count to ten. Try to match my breathing, okay?” 

Fallon gripped Kirby’s hands tighter as she took a few shaky breaths. 

The clock ticked away, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes as the two women stayed in the same position, Fallon fighting to breathe properly again, Kirby fighting the urge to hug her. 

It wasn’t until Fallon’s breathing had returned to normal that she looked up at Kirby, almost scared to meet her eyes, stopping at her lips instead. 

(Kirby’s not sure if it makes her a bad person if she’s grateful that Fallon’s as much of a mess as she is, but she’s grateful for it all the same.)

\---

_ Fallon sat on the floor of the shower, hugging her knees into her chest, letting the freezing water run over her.  _

_  
_ _ She heard Liam’s key in the doorway and tipped her head back, grimacing when it hit the hard tile of the shower.  _

_ “Fallon? Hey, you’re home early, short day? Anyway I had a great for the- Fallon what the hell?” _

_ She just shrugged.  _

_ Liam pulled her out of the shower roughly and wrapped a towel around her, soaking wet clothes still sticking to her and making her shiver.  _

\---

Kirby squinted at the clock on the wall opposite her, barely making out the 3am it almost mockingly displayed. 

36 hours down, 84 hours to go. Unless they were contagious then who even knew how long the CDC would cage them in the isolation bubble for. 

Fallon shuffled, just a few feet away, and clearly awake too. 

“Can’t sleep?” 

“Nope.”

“Me either.” 

Seconds ticked by as they both stared anywhere but at each other. 

“If we’re going to be stuck in this bubble for another few days...”

“Yeah?” 

“We may as well make the most of it.” 

Kirby raised an eyebrow. “Liam. And, you know, we might be contagious.” 

Fallon laughed dryly. “We’ve been two feet away for the better part of a day already, if you were contagious you would have already infected me. They would have kept us separately if that was the case.” 

Kirby nodded, conceding, but didn’t point out that Fallon ignored the bigger issue of the two she’d listed. She turned to face the wall again. 

“Good night, Fallon.”

\---

_ “Okay, that’s enough now, Kirby, that’s enough. You were drunk three drinks ago.”  _

_ Kirby dowed the drink, staring directly into Sam’s eyes. Or behind them. She wasn’t all too sure.  _

_ “Okay. Alright. Enough.” Sam grabbed the glass just as she was about to drop it, and slammed it onto the counter along with a few bills. “Let’s get out of here.”  _

_ “Sam, Sammy, Sam, SamSam, let’s go Karaoke!”  _

_ “Yes, that sounds like a great idea.” Sam rolled his eyes as he helped her into her jacket and tugged her arm towards the fresh midnight air of the street outside the overcrowded bar where the Uber was waiting for them already.  _

_ He guided Kirby’s dancing limbs into the Uber, throwing an apology at the poor driver who’d have to listen to her less-than-golden rendition of whatever the latest pop song was.  _

_ “Where are we going, Sammy boy?” _

_ “Home.” Sam wiped his face, exhausted by four nights of partying in a row. Although, by partying he meant babysitting drunk Kirby.  _

_ If Sam didn’t know any better, he’d never believe that he was staring at one of the leadership figures of the world’s most successful cosmetic procedure company. If he was her boss, instead of her assistant, he’d wonder if she was even fit for the job.  _

_  
_ _ At least she held it together at work, or some semblance thereof. _

_ Kirby’s face fell at his answer, “I don’t wanna go home.” _

_ “My home. I don’t... you shouldn’t be alone tonight.”  _

_ Kirby perked up somewhat at the new answer. “Can I tell you a secret?” _

_ “Yes?” Sam asked wearily, as he gratefully accepted a bottled water from the driver, taking a sip before throwing it at Kirby.  _

_ “I’m still in love with Fallon.”  _

_ If it had been any other night, probably, Sam would have just smiled sadly.  _

_ \--- _

“Why did you call me 35 times the other night?” 

“What?” 

Fallon turns around to glare at Kirby. “You called me. 35 times in one night. I was asleep.” 

Kirby’s face blushed bright red, she wanted to look away but something about Fallon’s gaze didn’t let her. “I was drunk.” 

\---

_ “What’s her name, Kirby? Hmm. What’s her name?”  _

_ Kirby lifted her head from the microscope, unaware that Fallon had even walked into the research lab.  _

_ “I  _ **_asked_ ** _ , WHATS HER NAME?” Fallon screamed, slamming her coffee down onto Kirby’s workbench, splattering latte drops all over the handwritten notes Kirby had spent all morning making.  _

_ “Who?” Kirby’s eyes darted around, by now aware that the interns had stopped working to stare at her girlfriend screaming her head off at her in the middle of the lab. _

_ “The blonde girl everyone saw you with last night.”  _

_ Kirby stood up, waving Sam towards the microscope slide to take over for her. “Let’s go outside, and then I can tell you about Delphine, my  _ very straight  _ best friend from high school, and how her research into nanoparticles helped solve my issue with the heat reactions that we were having on the new procedure.” _

_ \--- _

“Checkmate.”

Kirby sighed, though to be fair she wasn’t sure why she’d challenged Fallon to chess again. She’d lost to her over 10 times in the span of the last 24 hours. Maybe isolation was getting to her. 

She glanced at the clock again, trying to calculate how much longer they had to stay in quarantine for. 

“Don’t.” Fallon said firmly but softly, placing a warm hand on top of Kirby’s. “Ignore the clock, it will just drag it out longer if you keep checking. Just. Make the most of what we have right now.” 

They stare at each other a few seconds too long, each one painfully ticked away by the clock they’re trying so hard to ignore. 

(Fallon’s lips are just as soft as Kirby remembers.)

\---

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you thought (please) ♡


End file.
